Tonight the 25th annual Heartland Film Festival (Oct. 20-30, 2016) announced its full slate of winners – including Grand Prizes, Best Premieres, Audience Choice, Indiana Spotlight, and High School Film Competition winners – at its Awards Party at the Premiere Pavilion at AMC Castleton Square 14. Awarding $129,000 in cash prizes for 2016, the Festival has bestowed more than $3 million to independent filmmakers since 1992 – the largest total amount awarded by any film festival in the United States. The event was presented by the David and Betty Klapper Family Foundation.

“We are thrilled to celebrate our silver anniversary with this fantastic selection of award-winning films from our own backyard and around the world,” said Heartland Film Director of Programming & Marketing Greg Sorvig. “Documentary feature and audience choice winner ‘Night School’ was shot in Indianapolis while narrative feature winner ‘Home Care’ was the Czech Republic’s foreign-language entry for the 2016 Academy Awards®. These powerful films do much more than entertain, and our hope is that these honors and cash prizes will inspire our filmmakers to continue making impactful and inspiring stories for years to come.”

The Heartland Film Festival has earned the special designation of being a qualifying festival for the Annual Academy Awards® within the Short Films category. This means that the winner of the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Short Film (“The Ravens,” directed by Jennifer Perrot) will qualify for consideration in the Live Action Short Subject category of the Annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules. The $45,000 Grand Prize Winner for Best Narrative Feature “Home Care” is the Czech Republic’s entry in the foreign-language film category of the 2017 Academy Awards®. Created by Disney-Pixar animators, “Borrowed Time” took top honors in the Festival’s inaugural Animated Short Film category.

$5,000 Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award Winner
• “Wild Prairie Rose,” directed by Deborah LaVine (USA)
The inaugural Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award honors a single film, selected from the Festival’s feature-length narrative and documentary titles. This film embodies the ongoing legacy of actor and national hero Jimmy Stewart and demonstrates the triumph of the human spirit through determination and the defiance of odds, humble vulnerability, and courage in the face of adversity. Made possible by a partnership with The Stewart Family.